Wash your hands, wipe your phone, clean your glasses

To avoid being infected with the Coronavirus, COVID-19, or any other viruses (remember it is still flu season in the northern hemisphere) you should wash your hands and avoid touching your face. That’s to avoid transmission from out to in. In other words, we go out of our houses and are exposed to all sorts of pathogens which we pick up on our hands and if we touch any holes in our faces (mouth, nose, eyes,) those microbes get into our bodies and we may get sick.

The best prevention is to avoid letting these pathogens into our system.

Wash your hands, often and properly.  It is a good measure and you should do it as soon as you get indoors, work, home… The best way is to wash your hands with warm running water and soap.

I heard a doctor explaining proper hand washing as the way you wash your hands after you handled a jalapeño pepper and you’re about to put on your contact lenses. That well washed, including the base of the fingers, between the fingers, and under the nails.

But we should also remember to clean the personal objects that we use and touch with our dirty hands, the ones that we often forget to include in this cleaning ritual. I’m referring to our phones (yeah, when was the last time you wiped your phone clean?), and also our earphones, reusable coffee/tea mug, our water bottle, wallet, and our reading glasses/case.

You should wash what you can (water bottle, reusable mug) with hot water and soap but that wouldn’t be very healthy for your electronics and glasses.

One way to clean these is to use a microfibre, soft, lint-free, non-abrasive cloth—these usually come in your glasses case—wetted with warm soapy water and rung out to remove excess water. Unplug all cables and turn your phone off before wiping it and avoid getting any moisture in any openings.

You can clean your reading glasses case this way as well, and you can rinse your glasses under warm water and dry them with a dry microfibre non-scratch cloth.

Don’t use cleaning products, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, paper towel, disinfectant cloths, or compressed air because these may damage the phone’s special coating.

You can get more information from Health Canada or the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In summary,

• Remember to wash your hands as soon as you get indoors
• Wash/ wipe all the personal belongings you may have touched while outside
• Wash your hands again

 

Teresa Isabel Dias is a pharmacist and Certified Menopause Practitioner (NCMP) who provides education and support on symptom management for women at work and at home so they’ll feel like themselves again and enjoy a vibrant and productive life.

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